Audrey, the Baker’s Wife, races against time as she attempts to determine just what happened when her car struck a motor scooter in an early morning foggy intersection. The scooter is wrecked, blood is everywhere … and there is no body in sight. The situation is complicated by the conflict between Audrey’s husband (the baker) and the detective whose wife owned the scooter. The tension between the two men is not new: accusations by the detective cost the baker his earlier career as a pastor. When the detective cracks, and takes Audrey’s husband and son hostage along with some bakery employees and patrons, Audrey must use her ability to empathize with others’ pain to solve the mystery and release the hostages, aided only by an anxious ex con with her own agenda, and a sneering teen who despises all that Audrey stands for.
The Baker’s Wife by Erin Healy shows a sharp contrast between two men: one who interprets the letter of the Old Testament law very literally, and uses it to judge and try to control the actions of others, and the other who lives a live governed by the love of Christ, and attempts to demonstrate it to everyone who crosses his path. I appreciated that contrast, as well as the skill shown by the writer as she wove the lives of her characters together, but this book did not appeal to me as strongly as I thought it might. The protagonist’s ability to feel others’ agony in excruciating detail didn’t strike me as real, and stopped me from getting caught in the story line. I finished the book, but it didn’t inspire me with a desire to go and find others by the same author.
This book was provided to me free of charge by Thomas Nelson publishers, through Book Sneeze. I was not required to give a positive review.
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